Help Please Complex carbohydrates Protein and Good Fats

[murrus]

Hi my blood glucose readings were 15.0-17 mmol/L i was put on 600mg Metformin a day which for years did nothing then Januvia 100mg a day for a week when i had to come of them because of the awful side effects i was having. Then i was put on 80mg of Gliciazide and given a blood glucose meter and told to increase my Carbs and cut Fats (Big Mistake) and if my blood glucose levels dropped to under 4.0 mmol/L i had to eat 5 Jelly Babies and a Slice of Bread and check again (Wrong Again) in the first week of taking them i had 3 Hypos and did what they said but this time seen a Doctor about it who explained it was early days and not to worry and eat more Carbs and less fats and reduced my Gliclazide to 40mg a day but said i would probably have to have them increased. I had another 3 Hypos after this and brought as many books as i could about Diabetes but still could not find the answer all i read was the same cut Carbs to 200mg. I looked on the internet and looked at the official Diabetes websites they all spoke about increasing Carbs and cutting Fats. My head was in a spin then i seen a link to this site on one search engine and since have learnt so much about Diabetes. Thanks to your wonderful Members and Staff. I was 196lbs 6 months ago Cutting Calories to much and starving myself and passing out after reading every where the only way to lose weight is cut Calories by 600 a day i was only eating 800 a day. This time after reading your advice i am starting to understand what i need to eat a day following your advice i never feel hungry. While still leaning from here i had 3 more Hypos but now understand why. Since then my Blood/Glucose levels have been perfect for the last 4 days testing myself 3 times a day. I weighed myself 4 weeks ago and was 196Ibs after doing what was suggested here including exercise (brisk walking 3 miles) 5 days a week and only drinking water all the time. I have dropped to 180.4 in 4 weeks without any bad effects. I just can't believe how much my quality of life has improved and it's still early days.
However there is a question i would like to see if you could answer. If i continue to cut carbs should i increase Protein Fat and Fiber in-take to the amount of Carbs i cut or add a few more?

 

[Chris24Main]

Hi @murrus - your story is inspiring, and I can't lie, I had a bit of a face-plant moment with your parenthetical reactions to the advice you were getting. I'm glad that you persevered.

The way that the body works is hugely complicated - it's far from just being about food, and the more we focus on macros and blood glucose, the more confounding it seems, because its like looking at a tiny part of a jigsaw and trying to figure out what the whole picture is.
Then - everyone is different - so you may have an explanation that totally makes sense of someone else's experience - and doesn't work for you.

The good news is that you are clearly on the right track - so well done you...

one way of trying to prise open the answer you are looking for though, is to delve into the way that you store energy.
If insulin is up, and you have available energy, you will store it. (that's an over-simplification of the medical terminology, but it's good enough IMO).

This is really how it all works - if both things are true, you are holding on to energy and storing it away.
Most of the advice focusses on the second half of that - if you reduce energy to what the body considers insufficient, you will lose weight but you will be fighting with your body all the time. We know this form of discomfort as dieting.
Low carbing - is really about understanding this, if you keep insulin low, by not triggering it with sugar and starch, you don't get trapped in that "storage" mode.

Then - it's about balance - if you reduce the source of energy from carbs - you need to replace it with more fat, because you don't want to be creating energy from protein (which is one of the possible consequences of dieting, losing muscle mass).

Beyond that, it's really what works for you..

 

[Melgar]

Welcome to the forum @murrus . You have encountered the poor advice that’s been delved out to T2 diabetics for too long. Cut back fats, increase carbs. There is a history to that bad advice, but the diabetic world is slowly moving on and more and more health care professional are turning to low carb, high fat diets as a means of reducing blood sugars in T2s. As @Chris24Main states, the key is to reduce your insulin secretion. Lowering your carbs, lowers your pancreas’ insulin response. When your body has too much insulin sloshing around, there is a cascade of bodily responses that induce a process that causes the body to become insulin insensitive. That means that your body cannot use insulin effectively. Two things come out of that - rising blood sugars, because your pancreas can only produce so much insulin, and weight gain, because your body has to store all that excess energy somewhere.
Reducing carbs reduces your body’s response to it.

Many members here go on a low carb high fat eat regime with a lot of success. Take a look at some of the low carb forums here. Also There is a success story forum with inspirational stories where members have shared their success Ian reducing their blood sugars and going into remission.

 

[murrus]

Wow thank you Melgar and Chris24Main you have really helped me learned so much more already just from you two. I will now have a good look at some of the low carb forums here. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all that to me.

 

[Lamont D]

Yes, to your question.

 

[murrus]

Thanks Lamont D

 

[Pammypants]

Hi my blood glucose readings were 15.0-17 mmol/L i was put on 600mg Metformin a day which for years did nothing then Januvia 100mg a day for a week when i had to come of them because of the awful side effects i was having. Then i was put on 80mg of Gliciazide and given a blood glucose meter and told to increase my Carbs and cut Fats (Big Mistake) and if my blood glucose levels dropped to under 4.0 mmol/L i had to eat 5 Jelly Babies and a Slice of Bread and check again (Wrong Again) in the first week of taking them i had 3 Hypos and did what they said but this time seen a Doctor about it who explained it was early days and not to worry and eat more Carbs and less fats and reduced my Gliclazide to 40mg a day but said i would probably have to have them increased. I had another 3 Hypos after this and brought as many books as i could about Diabetes but still could not find the answer all i read was the same cut Carbs to 200mg. I looked on the internet and looked at the official Diabetes websites they all spoke about increasing Carbs and cutting Fats. My head was in a spin then i seen a link to this site on one search engine and since have learnt so much about Diabetes. Thanks to your wonderful Members and Staff. I was 196lbs 6 months ago Cutting Calories to much and starving myself and passing out after reading every where the only way to lose weight is cut Calories by 600 a day i was only eating 800 a day. This time after reading your advice i am starting to understand what i need to eat a day following your advice i never feel hungry. While still leaning from here i had 3 more Hypos but now understand why. Since then my Blood/Glucose levels have been perfect for the last 4 days testing myself 3 times a day. I weighed myself 4 weeks ago and was 196Ibs after doing what was suggested here including exercise (brisk walking 3 miles) 5 days a week and only drinking water all the time. I have dropped to 180.4 in 4 weeks without any bad effects. I just can't believe how much my quality of life has improved and it's still early days.
However there is a question i would like to see if you could answer. If i continue to cut carbs should i increase Protein Fat and Fiber in-take to the amount of Carbs i cut or add a few more?

 

[Pammypants]

I was on Glicazide and experienced lots hypos, and I gained weight with flu retention. I floowed Freshwell low carb plan and my health improved including only needed metformin.

 

[murrus]

Thank you that's some great information once i get my Carb Protein and Oil intake right and losing a few more pounds i will try taking no Gliclazide for a couple of days and keep testing my blood/glucose levels 3 times a day and see where to go from there.